The present invention relates to toy vehicles, and more particularly to a toy vehicle having a projectile firing apparatus.
A variety of toy vehicles which shoot or launch projectiles of various types are known in the prior art. Toy manufacturers consistently seek to add innovative new features to such toy vehicles to make them more versatile and/or entertaining. By way of example, some toy vehicles include a solenoid as a firing apparatus to shoot ping pong balls upon electrical actuation. Other toy vehicles include disk launching apparatus to launch disks onto a supporting surface. Many of these toy vehicles include complex electromechanical firing apparatus which are difficult and/or costly to manufacture.
According to one aspect of the invention, a toy vehicle is provided having a vehicle body, a projectile firing apparatus rotatably mounted on the vehicle body and a ram mounted within the firing apparatus. A spring is operably coupled to the ram. A firing lever is rotatably coupled to the firing apparatus and the ram such that rotation of the firing lever about an axis of rotation first retracts the ram against the spring and then abruptly releases the ram to strike a projectile within the firing apparatus to fire the projectile from the firing apparatus.
In another aspect, the invention is a toy vehicle that comprises a vehicle body; a projectile firing apparatus on the vehicle body; a handle operably connected to the firing apparatus to manually fire projectiles from the firing apparatus; and a pair of foot rests pivotally mounted and releasably latched to the vehicle body.